Know Thyself Get Curious about Your Story Week Three

c. 2021 Dave Fleming, PhD

Curiosity is about how we pay attention to what is happening in the moment. Todd Kashdan

To know ourselves requires we enter a process of noticing, contemplating, and transforming. But what initiates this process?

Curiosity

To know ourselves, we have to get curious about…ourselves. But how does that happen? At one very deep level, it happens when we view our lives as stories and then get curious about that story: the arc, the characters, the scenes, and the unfolding script.

Ponder: What would change if you saw your life as a story?

We dull our lives by the way we conceive them. We have stopped imagining them with any sort of romance, any fictional flair.

James Hillman

Know Thyself Get Curious about Your Story Week Three

c. 2021 Dave Fleming, PhD

The Process of Curious Self-Knowing

Three related actions of curiosity open us to our self-

knowing:

Notice:

Pay attention to how you experience and “show up”

in any moment or season of life

Contemplate:

Think deeply about how you show up and what it

reveals about “you”

Transform:

Engage a process by which you risk your way to

better versions of “you” in moments and seasons life.

Thus, a hero’s journey is simultaneously

about living your gifts and healing your

wounds. Your power and your fullness are

in both of these energies. And those two

things will be there as major influences on

your intimate relationships, your

professional life, your health, and your

development as a person – this

simultaneous process of healing and

sharing your gifts will always be there.

-

The Hero's Journey: A Voyage of Self Discovery" by Stephen Gilligan.

Reflect on the three actions of curious

self-knowing and the three quotes on this

page.

How do the three behaviors help you live your gifts and

heal your wounds?

Know Thyself Get Curious about Your Story Week Three

c. 2021 Dave Fleming, PhD

Where You Can Apply Curious Self-Knowing

Story Arc(s)

What are the big themes (story arcs) of your life?

We all have big themes that seem to “follow us”

through life. These themes can be about our

relationships, work, physical body, or health, to

name a few. If we are curious about these

themes, they can help us enter the process of knowing ourselves.

Characters

We all have people in our lives. These “characters” enter our lives - sometimes for

a brief moment or for a lifetime. These characters reveal elements and qualities

about our character. Get curious about your own character when you’re around

others.

Scenes

Scenes are brief experiences that seem relatively small to our overall story but

still reveal important elements about us. If we’re curious, even one conversation (a

scene) can uncover important self-knowledge.

Scripts

Scripts are thoughts and words and their associated feelings. If we’re curious

about them, they reveal important perspectives, biases, and assumptions that are

driving our behavior in any given moment.

Use the curiosity process (notice, contemplate, transform) to explore one of the four elements of life described above. What can you learn about

yourself as you get curious about one of the four elements?

Know Thyself Get Curious about Your Story Week Three

Below is an infographic that visualizes Joseph Campbell’s powerful work on the

hero’s journey. Campbell’s work has inspired new generations of storytellers to

use a very ancient process of storytelling. But Campbell’s work also can help us

“locate” ourselves in the very same story. Spend some time with the graphic and

see how it might speak to your own life and reveal areas for self-exploration you

need to embrace. On the next page is an article about Campbell’s work.

From ArtStation (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/bakqkG)

c. 2021 Dave Fleming, PhD

Going Deeper

Know Thyself Get Curious about Your Story Week Three

Facing Adversity: How to Apply The Hero’s Journey To Your Own Life (from motherhoodcommunity.com)

This is a helpful overview of the concept of the hero’s journey. It also explores how to apply it to your own life. Click the link below to read.

https://motherhoodcommunity.com/facing-adversity-how-to-apply-the-heros-journey-to-your-own-life/

c. 2021 Dave Fleming, PhD